1. Field of the Invention
Printing apparatus is provided for printing information on a vertical stack of horizontal vertically-spaced planar objects arranged in a housing, including a separating arrangement for removing the lowermost object from the stack, and a printing device for printing information on the removed object. The stack is supported by a plurality of support arrangements each including a support member mounted for reciprocatory horizontal displacement by an electromagnetic drive device between positions that are adjacent and remote from the stack, respectively. Each support member is guided during this displacement by a guide arrangement including at least one guide lever having a first end pivotally connected with the housing, and a second end connected with a guide follower roller that is in engagement with a guide cam surface carried by the support member.
2. Description of Related Art
In the patented prior art, it is known from German patent No. DE 197 58 483 C2 to provide a printer for printing media such as plastic cards or mats with labels. These printing media have a relatively great material thickness, so that the requirements imposed on the printer are different from those for customary paper printers. In particular it is necessary to ensure that a high print quality is attained for printing plastic cards or mats as well. A plate-like, rigid printing medium of this type is described in German Application No. DE 20 2006 005 458 U1.
The printing media such as plastic cards or mats are located in the printer in a stack, one atop the other, and must be separated before printing. This can take place in a separate separating device arranged ahead of the printer, or the printer may be equipped with a separating device.
However, in the previously known separating devices, especially metal components are moved against a stop to establish an end position. In this process, the components hit the stop without prior deceleration, frequently leading to development of noise. In addition, the components become eroded by the high mechanical stress.
The use of damping systems in printers of the class mentioned is very complicated. For example, the maintenance effort is very high in the case of hydraulically operating damping systems. The use of elastic materials for damping causes the drawback that the elasticity of the materials means that exact positioning of the components can no longer be guaranteed. In addition, such components can harden over time and thus lose their damping effect.